The government and the EU have succeeded in bullying the people of Ireland into voting for a Treaty they do not want. This vote was based upon fear and the Yes majority is a hollow victory. Even amongst supporters of the Treaty there was an admission that the only grounds for supporting it were the threats of exclusion from future bailout funds. This was the only substantive argument presented by the government and the Yes campaign.

The referendum result today should not be regarded as a mandate to impose the household tax, the water tax and other austerity measures. Those who are being most affected by the austerity measures – cuts and tax hikes – have rejected this treaty in large numbers.

Labour’s way is now exposed as Frankfurt’s way: the protection of failing banks at the expense of ordinary working people. The Labour Party should take no comfort in this result. They will find themselves supporting cuts and taxes that impose the burden of the banking and economic crisis on ordinary people. The Austerity Treaty, and the austerity policies being currently implemented, will bring neither stability, recovery nor growth. Labour supporters will soon realise this.

Over the coming months the activists of the Campaign Against the Austerity Treaty will work with those who oppose the implementation of the austerity measures that are embodied in this anti-social treaty. We will continue to link up with like-minded movements across Europe in support of an alternative that prioritises full employment, social protection, peace and environmental sustainability.

Brendan Young.

=========================

An Explicit Campaign of Blackmail Waged against Potential ‘No’ Voters

The fiscal treaty was voted on in a referendum in Ireland yesterday and was approved by a margin of 60% to 40% (with a turnout of barely 50% of eligible voters).

The outcome of the referendum was largely attributable to the ‘yes’ side’s focus on Ireland’s access to the new European Stability Mechanism (ESM) – the fund to which Ireland would be expected to apply should it require a second loan from non-market sources (a first such loan – from EU, IMF and other sources – was contracted in 2010). The argument was endlessly repeated that a ‘no’ vote would deny Ireland the ability to apply to the ESM, and many people were doubtless convinced that this could be a risky proposition . Thus, the ‘yes’ vote is explained to some extent not by any widespread endorsement of the content of the treaty itself, but rather by an explicit campaign of blackmail waged against potential ‘no’ voters. As Paul Murphy, Socialist Party Member of the European Parliament put it, a ‘yes’ vote is “no endorsement of what’s in this treaty and it’s no endorsement of austerity. People are scared out there.”

Things, however, will not get better or less scary for most Irish people any time soon. In fact, they will likely get worse. A ‘breaking news’ headline in one of the country’s national newspapers this morning read: “Bad news back on agenda now vote is over”, referring to the fact that issues such as the introduction of new taxes, discussion of which was cynically deferred during the referendum campaign, will come roaring back with a vengeance. Further swingeing austerity is to be imposed for years to come, copper fastened in place by the treaty’s rules. Those who have borne the brunt of the cutbacks to date already understand this – working class communities tended to vote ‘no’ to the treaty, while the ‘yes’ vote was highest in middle- and upper-class constituencies; even one government minister conceded that the vote reflected a “class divide”.

There is no disguising that the referendum result is a disappointment. However, the fact that the ‘no’ vote was 40% is, under the circumstances, a very decent showing, especially given that the three largest political parties (only two of which are in government), all major newspapers, business groups and various civil society elites were unanimous in their calls for a ‘yes’ vote. And it is worth bearing in mind that the fear factor discussed above pushed a lot of people into the ‘yes’ camp despite their opposition to the broad thrust of current policy. Nor can those who abstained be counted as having given the current regime a ringing endorsement. In other words, almost the entire weight of establishment Ireland could barely manage to persuade 30% of the electorate to back the treaty, and a good number of those did so only through gritted teeth and at effective gunpoint. The courage of those who voted ‘no, coupled with what will inevitably be the growing anger and sense of betrayal felt by many of those those who voted ‘yes’ or who did not vote at all, provides a solid basis for developing a serious alternative agenda to, and mobilization against, the debt and austerity programme in the years to come.

NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST Paul Krugman has advised Irish voters to vote No in Thursday’s referendum on the Fiscal Compact.

“I’ve thought about it, it’s hard. I would say vote No,” he said on BBC Radio 4 this morning. Krugman dismissed the suggestion that a No vote would anger Germany and see Ireland cut off from bailout funds or from the Eurozone.

“At this point the Germans need to face the reality that this cannot work and that the Irish, who’ve been such good soldiers in this crisis, if even the Irish say no then that would actually send a helpful message,” he said.

On theJournal.ie on Monday Senator Katherine Zappone established her support for the Fiscal Treaty in an article titled, ‘I’ve always fought for those who have the least. That’s why I’m voting Yes.’ For many of us who are fans of her academic and political work it will have been a disappointing read – laced with conformism, neoliberal logic and uncritical repetition of conventional wisdom which serves the interests of the powerful. The article requires a response – particularly because of its assertion that voting Yes serves the interests of the weakest in Irish society.

]]>https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/eve-of-poll-messages-paul-krugman-and-ronan-burtenshawe/feed/0tomasoflathartaGood Advice from Slavoj Zizekhttps://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/167/
https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/167/#respondWed, 30 May 2012 17:39:08 +0000http://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/167/The Cedar Lounge Revolution: …they could do worse than read this from Slavoj Žižek on Europe and the Greeks… passed on by Wu Ming for which many thanks… On the choice between SYRIZA amd the right… And, as is usually the case when a real choice is on offer, the establishment is…]]>

…they could do worse than read this from Slavoj Žižek on Europe and the Greeks… passed on by Wu Ming for which many thanks…

On the choice between SYRIZA amd the right…

And, as is usually the case when a real choice is on offer, the establishment is in a panic: chaos, poverty and violence will follow, they say, if the wrong choice is made.

And:

Here is the paradox that sustains the ‘free vote’ in democratic societies: one is free to choose on condition that one makes the right choice. This is why, when the wrong choice is made (as it was when Ireland rejected the EU constitution), the choice is treated as a mistake, and the establishment immediately demands that the ‘democratic’ process be repeated in order that the mistake may be corrected.

But it’s his conclusion which is most important where he points to a depoliticised technocracy…

]]>https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/164/feed/0tomasoflathartaChristine Lagarde, scourge of tax evaders, pays no taxhttps://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/christine-lagarde-scourge-of-tax-evaders-pays-no-tax/
https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/christine-lagarde-scourge-of-tax-evaders-pays-no-tax/#commentsTue, 29 May 2012 20:06:41 +0000http://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/?p=160A reminder that tax is only for little people :

As an official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 (£298,675) a year plus $83,760 additional allowance a year is not subject to any taxes.

The former French finance minister took over as managing director of the IMF last year when she succeeded her disgraced compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was forced to resign after he faced charges – later dropped – of sexually attacking a New York hotel maid.

Lagarde, 56, receives a pay and benefits package worth more than American president Barack Obama earns from the United States government, and he pays taxes on it.

The same applies to nearly all United Nations employees – article 34 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations of 1961, which has been signed by 187 states, declares: “A diplomatic agent shall be exempt from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal.”

Base salaries range from $46,000 to $80,521. Senior salaries range between $95,394 and $123,033 but these are topped up with adjustments for the cost of living in different countries. A UN worker based in Geneva, for example, will see their base salary increased by 106%, in Bonn by 50.6%, Paris 62% and Peshawar 38.6%. Even in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, one of the poorest areas of the world, a UN employee’s salary will be increased by 53.2%.

Other benefits include rent subsidies, dependency allowances for spouses and children, education grants for school-age children and travel and shipping expenses, as well as subsidised medical insurance.

For many years critics have complained that IMF, World Bank, and United Nations employees are able to live large at international taxpayers’ expense.

During the 1944 economic conference at Bretton Woods, where the IMF was created, American and British politicians disagreed over salaries for the bureaucrats. British delegates, including the economist John Maynard Keynes, considered the American proposals for salaries to be “monstrous”, but lost the argument.

Officials from the various organisations have long maintained that the high salaries are a way of attracting talent from the private sector. In fact, most senior employees are recruited from government posts.

European ATTAC Network Declares “we have to break with the neoliberal monetary order”

“Accept austerity or face chaos”. This is the message sent by European leaders – such as José Manuel Barroso, Angela Merkel, Mario Draghi – to the Irish and Greek peoples.

Until now, austerity forever has been adopted by Europe’s elite without any democratic debate, despite protests rising all over Europe to denounce these dangerous, unfair, absurd policies leading Europe to recession and social crisis.

Now that the votes in Greece and Ireland questions this orientation, threats of isolation and of economic disaster are used to blackmail the people. While for European leaders, belonging to the Eurozone mean accepting austerity, it is more than ever clear that we have to break with the neoliberal monetary order and with the domination of banks the financial markets.

If they choose to break free from the chains of austerity, Irish and Greek peoples should know that they are not alone. We, citizens of other European countries, will probably not be asked. But our thoughts are with you, since your votes could advance a break with the anti-social and anti-democratic drift of European policies and be the first steps to build real European alternatives to the crisis.

]]>https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/european-attac-network-declares-we-have-to-break-with-the-neoliberal-monetary-order/feed/2tomasoflathartaEU14-StarAdMay29UNITE MANDATE and the CPSU Call for No in the Austerity Treaty Referendumhttps://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/unite-manadate-and-the-cpsu-call-for-no-in-the-austerity-treaty-referendum/
https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/unite-manadate-and-the-cpsu-call-for-no-in-the-austerity-treaty-referendum/#commentsMon, 28 May 2012 22:04:48 +0000http://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/?p=151Three major trade unions with combined membership of more than 100,000 have issued a strong call to vote no in Thursday’s referendum on what they are calling the austerity treaty.

The Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU), Mandate and UNITE trade unions represent workers across the private and public sector and a wide range of industries from retail to transport and finance.
UNITE Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly said:
“The Treaty is only about austerity and does not have any provisions relating to growth.”
“It has been rushed in as a panic measure. No less than ten Euro zone countries have now slipped back into recession.”
“The problem with the treaty is that it enshrines the very policies that have caused that recession to get deeper and more damaging.”
“Ireland has a chance to say No, and to pull Europe back from the brink of economic self harm it has been engaged in to disastrous effect over the past three years.”

Mandate General Secretary, John Douglas said that the Fiscal Treaty if passed will not create one job:
“On the contrary it will legally lock down Irish economic activity at its current levels, and may even shrink domestic demand further leading to mass unemployment, decades of emigration and sow the seeds for future social conflict.
“This Treaty has nothing to do with ‘good housekeeping’ or ‘managing the household budget’; it is about copper fastening into an internationally legally binding agreement, decades of austerity, social exclusion, mass long term unemployment and emigration – and a continuation of attacks on workers’ rights and the welfare system. It is not about what is good for Irish citizens, or the citizens of Europe, it is a treaty of the Right for the Right!”

CPSU General Secretary Eoin Ronayne said:

“The Treaty amounts to writing into law the failed policies of the neo liberals who got us into the mess we are in.”
“Why on earth would lower and middle income people vote to make their lives even worse than they already are”
“What the ordinary citizens of the EU need is a sustained and comprehensive growth package putting money back into their pockets so that they can spend in their local economies generating jobs and protecting existing employment”
“Nothing in this Treaty will do that and a NO vote is the only way for people to stand up and say we’ve had enough of what got us into this crisis and that it’s time for change”
Each of the three unions has been working with activists and workplace representatives to encourage debate among members and present a balance to the government messaging that there is no choice but to say yes.

Mandate has produced a short video message and is mailing 25,000 members with a leaflet this weekend explaining the reasons behind the union’s stance. UNITE is also sending messages to each of its 50,000 members in the Republic of Ireland while the CPSU is similarly communicating that there is an alternative to austerity.

Report of a Debate on the Austerity Treaty at the CPSU Conference, April 27-28 2012 :

In a robust debate at the CPSU annual delegate conference in Cork today, conference backed a motion calling for the union to campaign for a ‘No’ vote in the forthcoming referendum on the Fiscal treaty.

Supporting the motion, Terry Murphy (OPW branch) said “Meeting this target will mean the imposition of such severe austerity that it will undermine the economy as a while and significantly deepen the crisis” said Murphy

This treaty will effectively write into law that neither the current or any future government will be allowed to invest in jobs ,he said

This treaty will require, added Murphy, the absolute decimation of public services.

It will also affect the rights of people to elect any government that does not adhere to the neo-liberal agenda, added Murphy.

Dave Meehan (An Post) said that the structural deficit target imposed by the treaty will mean €5.7 billion worth of cuts.

“This will mean 10 more years of unemployment and emigration” said Keane.

Eoin Ronayne, general secretary, said that “essentially the treaty means the imposition into Irish law of a draconian, right-wing agenda that will shackle this country to an impossible deficit to maintain”.

Now the right wing government in Europe of Merkel and Sarkozy are imposing conditions on our country trying to get itself out of the mess that was created not by ordinary workers but by speculators and by those that borrowed recklessly on the international monetary markets, said Ronayne.

However, Ronayne said that we are stuck with the decision of previous governments to get themselves into an economy programme with EU. That money will run out in 2014. The condition of joining the stability fund is that you sign up for this treaty, he explained

So on the one hand, while this treaty is anti-worker and nothing that we can sign up to as a trade union “in Ireland because of the way we were managed by our previous governments and now the new government we are stuck in a process where there appears to be no alternative” said the CPSU general secretary.

Other unions such as Mandate, the TEEU and Unite have come out against the treaty while Siptu has adopted to a ‘wait and see’ approach to see if the treaty is accompanied by an investment in jobs. IIMPACT has come out in favour pointing out that if we don’t have money from Europe in 2014 we don’t pay public servants, said Ronayne.

“it’s a case of damned if we do and damned if we don’t” said Ronayne leaving it up to the delegates to decide whether they want to campaign actively against the treaty or not.

Sinead McKenna (An Post) was critical of what she saw as ICTU’s lack of leadership on the issue when it left it up to each union to decide their own policy towards the Treaty.

]]>https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/geerman-trade-union-ig-metall-solidarity-declaration-vote-no-to-austerity-treaty-on-may-31/feed/1tomasoflathartaEU14-IG Metall Solidarity Declaration for a No in IrelandThe Austerity Treaty Will Not Workhttps://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/142/
https://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/142/#respondMon, 28 May 2012 17:04:15 +0000http://campaignagainsttheausteritytreaty.wordpress.com/?p=142Michael Burke, writing in the Irish Left Review says

There are many reasons to vote No in the forthcoming Treaty on the austerity pact. One of them is that it is simply unworkable